Watkins Family Hour, Courtney Hartman

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Jacob Boll

Watkins Family Hour: Sean and Sara Watkins.

Brother-sister musical duo Sean and Sara Watkins are on tour for their most recent Watkins Family Hour album, Brother Sister. The 2020 album combines the siblings' vocal power with guitar (Sean) and fiddle (Sara), for a stripped-down sound: “The primary goal of this record became to see what we could do when it is just the two of us,” Sara says. Brother Sister is the Watkins Family Hour’s second project; their self-titled debut was released in 2015. With Courtney Hartman.

media release: Los Angeles-based sibling due Watkins Family Hour will perform in Stoughton, WI at Stouhgton Opera House on December 17th. Returning to the studio as Watkins Family Hour, Sean and Sara Watkins consider brother sister a duo-centric record – yet one that feels bigger than just two people. They're touring on their latest record brother sister a duo-centric record—yet one that feels bigger than just two people. With Sean primarily on guitar and Sara on fiddle, and with both of them sharing vocals, the siblings enlisted producer Mike Viola (Jenny Lewis, Mandy Moore, J.S. Ondara) and mixer-engineer Clay Blair to harness the energy and honesty of their live sound.

Moving from one landscape to the next – literally and musically -- is nothing new to Sean and Sara Watkins, who have performed separately and together for nearly their whole lives. Growing up near San Diego, they played countless shows at a local pizza place in Carlsbad, California, with their childhood friend, Chris Thile. As young adults, those three musicians broke out nationally as Nickel Creek, an acoustic ensemble that sold millions of albums, won a Grammy, and toured the world. 

Encouraged by a local club owner in Los Angeles, Sean and Sara formed Watkins Family Hour in 2002 as an outlet to try out some original songs and a few covers that wouldn’t work in Nickel Creek. That club, Largo, has since become the home base for Watkins Family Hour, whose shows frequently pair musicians who seem to have little in common, yet find a shared language in their music.